Tuning Your Toms with John Good

John Good is one of the founders of DW Drums along with Don Lombardi. Since the advent of DW in 1972, Good has dedicated his work towards perfecting the drum set. John gives Cobus Potgieter a lesson on tuning his toms, explaining how the pitch of the shell is relative to the tuning of the head.
Watch more free videos on the Drum Channel free content page:
drumchannel.co...
Follow DrumChannel on..
- Facebook: / drumchannel
- Instagram: / drumchannel
- Twitter: / drumchannel

[@hannes1734]

I prefer to tune my toms with a tuning key, but if you have a John Good lying around, you might aswell use that

[@Dimitri8907]

I have been drumming for 25 years on and off and always tuned my drums myself...I can't believe I never knew about listening to the natural timbre of the shell...game changer

[@benking9160]

Always on about shells! It's a relatively insignificant thing when tuning. It's all about the heads and the bearing edge! Tensioning heads correctly and having the right relationship between the two heads is of utmost importance! Mr good just wants to talk up the importance of the shell to sell more drums lol

[@friedpickles342]

1000% agreed . .

[@Jeremy_Sims]

IWhat you saying is more so true then what John was saying, but he’s not necessarily wrong about his shell theory to a certain degree. It can definitely be useful for some to tune to shell or acknowledge the shell in their tuning scheme. Shell is important too. Not as much as he says, but it is a percentage of the quality of sound it’s not obsolete you know?

[@CiaoGibson]

John......you are THE drum whisperer! Thank you!

[@ediot6969]

Get Dave Weckl to do this lesson. He is virtually unmatched when it comes to tuning. Other areas as well, but this also comes to mind.

[@b.murenthaler]

I buy a Roland E-Drum Kit

[@ryanspeed4671]

Love that sound, Awesome!!

[@CodyCarpSwag]

Noone really knows the absolute way to tune drums haha everyone does it different and they all work for the most part. BUT I think this is the best way

[@hxhdfjifzirstc894]

I'm not a drummer, but this method makes sense to me. Get the shell and bottom head resonating sympathetically and then tune the top head until it's the sound you want. I guess this assumes you want a sustaining note.

[@gaberomero127]

@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Funny thing is that I tuned the top head based on feel (once I already have the resonant head tuned first for me) and how it would being struck. Then again you could say therefor it's by sound, but I always felt leaning more towards "hit/feel"

[@b.murenthaler]

Buy a Roland E-Drum Kit & these kind of tuning Probs are nearly solved !

[@Brento44]

Just got meet John here in Montreal! He's the real deal! Fantastic video!

[@fabiobianqueri1862]

Good job sir thank you very much

[@nathanyazzie9044]

Thank you!!!

[@maus_drummer]

Great sound!

[@Merrillizer]

Hmmm..... resonant head should be tuned HIGHER in most cases for me. I don't know.... Hmmmmmm?

[@renebarcenas9491]

Resonant head gives it the ring so it should be higher.

[@Jeremy_Sims]

People tune in different ways tuning the batter high is a method, but it’s more a jazzy tone. Tuning the resonant higher is typically most people’s choice for more genres

[@ramencurry6672]

I plan on getting an 8 x 10 Tom from DW to add to my Gretsch set

[@Daveinet]

Having messed around with tuning unisons on a piano, you can listen to the beats of the phase cancellation of the pitch difference between the strings. If they are dead on, there is no beat. Often times you tune so there is just a slight phase cancellation at the very end of the trail off of the note. This will tend to brighten the sound. If the piano is not really voiced correctly, you can detune it a little more to make it sound louder. So with this preface, you have two heads on the drums, both resonating at their tuned pitch. What I find confusing is that the tuning is so imprecise. That you can tune the head a whole half step seems crazy to me. At that point you are so far off, the phase will have so many beats in it, its hard to believe there would be any sympathetic resonance. Yes, one head would excite the other, but any motion of the head actually moving together with the other head seems like they would never sum together. Has anyone ever tried to tune heads that precisely?

[@baronrichmond5667]

Check out Terry Bozzio who uses like a bajillion toms and they're tuned to a chromatic scale. Some drums like orchestral drums also need to be tuned specifically, but most of the time for any average drummer the rule is to tune them to how you think they sound best (depending on sizes and material the drum is made of). I know a lot of EDM producers ensure the snare and kick drum are in the key of their song, and i suppose toms if the song has any, but for the average rock band....I doubt they even go that far.

[@markmooch]

Great vid. This must be a few years old now?

[@biodigitaljazz1]

This is Cobus' first DW drum set, so yes.

[@mr.lindsaymcdonald2065]

John Good explains the number one problem for drummers, tuning the drum to sound great!!!

[@BrianRussTVC]

This must have been a while ago before Cobus switched over to Sabian

[@dankenton]

I'm hearing an interval of a 5th on that bottom head versus the shell with the shell being the higher pitch. Might be a video thing but I would rather hear the top head compliment those pitches rather than just being tuned higher than the bottom.

[@djjazzyjeff1232]

I've always thought that when I listen to drum tuning videos. It's really hard to wrap your head around the sound because there's so many overtones to deal with it.

[@thesailingtomatoes]

Thick shell - high Thin shell low Is that right?

[@thesailingtomatoes]

2.36

[@justanoob111]

lol its nice to have a turn table. Just tune the damn drum and don't take all day to do it lol